Tag Archives: Jewel Avenue

The mother of a two-year-old who was strangled to death last week was arrested Monday and charged with the boy’s murder, police said.

On August 10, officers responded to a 911 call of an unconscious baby at 155-14 Jewel Avenue at the Pomonok Houses. When they arrived, officials found two-year-old Izayah Hall unresponsive, and he was transported to New York Hospital Queens where he was pronounced dead.

The following day, the boy’s death was ruled a homicide. According to the NYPD, at the scene the mother, Afriyie Gaspard, 29, claimed to have found him unconscious.

According to police, at approximately 11 a.m. a vehicle travelling on the westbound side of the Grand Central Parkway hit and killed 63-year-old Frank Avino of Ronkonkoma, Long Island, who was working on the left lane of the roadway at Jewel Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver, 26-year-old Munshi Abdullah of Jamaica, Queens was taken into custody at the scene and arrested. He has been charged with vehicular manslaughter, DWI and resisting arrest, said police.

Avino, a contractor for Welsbach Electric Corp., was doing work for the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) at the time of the accident, said the DOT. Welsbach has a contract with the city to install and maintain streetlights in Queens, including on the Grand Central Parkway.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to his family and to his loved ones. This incident reminds us of so many other tragedies on our streets caused by speeding and by drunk and reckless driving, and we will not let up in our efforts to fight each on every front,” said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.